JP7493747B2 - Power supply equipment for cableways - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a device that supplies power to carriages at stations of cableway facilities.

A cableway system is a transportation facility that suspends vehicles from cables stretched in the air to transport people and goods, and is often used to transport people on mountain slopes and for skiers and snowboarders at ski resorts. In addition, cableways do not require rails to be laid on the ground as is the case with railways, and therefore require less land for the tracks, and therefore are increasingly being used as a form of public transportation in urban areas, particularly overseas.

In this way, when using cableway facilities that operate closed carriages such as gondola lifts and ropeways as a means of daily transportation in urban areas, it is desirable to equip each carriage with air conditioning equipment and lighting equipment inside the passenger cars to improve passenger comfort. However, as has been well known in the past, it is difficult to supply power to carriages that move along the tracks in cableway facilities, so the carriages are generally equipped with small storage batteries that are charged at stations after the operation is completed and used, making it difficult to equip the carriages with devices that consume a lot of power, such as air conditioning equipment.

In order to charge the batteries after the operation has ended, a gondola lift or the like that operates many vehicles requires many chargers, which increases costs, so it has been proposed to charge the batteries while the vehicles are moving within the station during operation of the cableway facility (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The technology described in Patent Document 1 includes a charging connector attached to the outer surface of the vehicle and connected to the battery in an automatic circulating cableway, an electrical supply terminal that is provided within a station located midway along the cableway and comes into contact with the charging connector while the vehicle moves within the station, and a power supply device connected to the electrical supply terminal, so that the battery can be charged even while the vehicle is moving within the station.

Recently, due to the spread of electric vehicles and the like, storage batteries have become smaller and have larger capacities, and rapid charging of these batteries has also become possible. By adopting this technology to rapidly charge the storage batteries inside a carriage moving within a station, as in Patent Document 1 above, sufficient power can be supplied from the storage batteries to the equipment mounted on the carriage even when the carriage is on the tracks, and the environment inside the carriage can be maintained comfortable.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-31063

However, the problem with the automatic circulating cableway shown in the above patent document is that multiple carriages move simultaneously within a station. In other words, because multiple carriages receive power from the power supply rail (electricity supply terminal) installed at the station in the above patent document, there is a problem that excessive current flows on the power supply rail (electricity supply terminal) side.

In addition, when rapid charging a storage battery, a large current flows from the power supply side to the storage battery side. Therefore, if charging is performed while the carrier is moving as described above, there is a risk that sparks will occur between the contacts at the moment the contacts on the supply side and the contacts on the storage battery side come into contact and come out of contact, damaging the equipment.

The present invention was made in consideration of the above circumstances, and aims to provide a power supply device for a cableway that can prevent excessive current from flowing through the power supply rail when supplying power to multiple carriages at a station, and can also prevent sparks from occurring when contacts come into contact with and separate from each other.

The invention of claim 1 comprises a plurality of power supply rails arranged at predetermined intervals along the path of movement of a carriage within a cableway station and having the same capacity of electricity flowing therethrough, a current collector in contact with the power supply rail in preparation for the carriage, and a plurality of carriage detectors arranged between the plurality of power supply rails arranged at the predetermined intervals and which, when they detect the carriage, stop the flow of electricity to the power supply rails arranged before and after the plurality of power supply rails, wherein when the carriage detector detects the carriage and before the power supply rail and the current collector separate, the flow of electricity to the power supply rails arranged before and after the carriage detector that detected the carriage is cut off, and after the carriage detector has finished detecting the carriage and the power supply rail has come into contact with the current collector, the flow of electricity to the power supply rails arranged before and after the carriage detector that has finished detecting the carriage is resumed .

The invention of claim 2 is characterized in that, in the invention described in claim 1, the power supply rails are arranged so as to supply power to only one of the carriages for one of the power supply rails.

According to the present invention, by arranging multiple power supply rails on the moving path of the carrier, it is possible to prevent excessive current from flowing through each power supply rail, and to supply stable power to the carrier. Furthermore, at the moment when the power supply rail and the current collector contact and separate, no current flows through the power supply rail, and current is passed and cut off while the power supply rail and the current collector are in contact, so that even when a large current is passed, such as during rapid charging, sparks can be prevented from occurring between the power supply rail and the current collector.

Schematic diagram of a single-line automatic circulating ropeway A diagram showing some of the stops Overall layout of power supply rails A front view showing the positional relationship between the gripper and the carrier detector. An explanatory diagram showing the state in which the gripper moves

Specific embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a single-wire automatic circulating cableway will be described as a representative example of cableway facilities. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a single-wire automatic circulating cableway. A single-wire automatic circulating cableway 10 has stations 11 and 12 at the ends of the track, and each station 11, 12 is equipped with a driving pulley 13 and a driven pulley 14 that can rotate freely. A cable 15 is endlessly wound around the driving pulley 13 and the driven pulley 14, and by rotating the driving pulley 13, the cable 15 moves in a circulating manner between the stations 11, 12. A plurality of carriages 18 are suspended from the cable 15 at predetermined intervals along the track.

The carriage 18 is detachable from the cable 15. It is attached to the cable 15 and moves together with the cable 15 on the track, and is detached from the cable 15 within the bus stops 11 and 12. The bus stops 11 and 12 are provided with U-shaped running rails 16 and 17 in plan view, and the carriage 18 detached from the cable 15 moves along the running rails 16 and 17 as follows. First, when the carriage 18 arrives at the bus stops 11 and 12, it is detached from the cable 15 and transferred to the running rails 16 and 17, and is decelerated by a transfer device provided along the running rails 16 and 17. When the carriage 18 decelerates to a speed at which passengers can board and disembark, it maintains that speed and turns around the bus stops 11 and 12 toward the departure side, during which passengers board and disembark. After the carriage 18 turns back to the departure side, it is accelerated to the same speed as the cable 15, and then attached to the cable 15 and detached from the running rails 16, 17 to depart onto the track.

Figure 2 shows a part of the stations 11 and 12. The shackle 20 of the carriage 18 is equipped with a running roller 21 that rolls on the running rails 16 and 17, and an end roller 22 at the end opposite the running roller 21. At the position of the end roller 22, a guide rail 19 is extended parallel to the outer circumference of the running rails 16 and 17, thereby keeping the posture of the carriage 18 moving at the stations 11 and 12 constant. A power supply rail 23 that is energized is laid along the lower part of the guide rail 19, while the shackle 20 is equipped with a current collector 24 that contacts the power supply rail 23. An electric cable 25 is connected to the current collector 24, and the other end of the electric cable 25 is connected to a storage battery 26 in the carriage 18. In the stations 11 and 12, the power supply rail 23 and the current collector 24 come into contact with each other and move, during which power is supplied to the carriage 18 and the storage battery 26 is charged.

Figure 3 is an overall layout diagram of the power supply rail. The entire power supply rail 23 is made up of multiple power supply rails 23, and adjacent power supply rails 23 are arranged with a certain distance H between them. The same amount of electricity is supplied to each power supply rail 23 from the power sources at stations 11 and 12. The current collectors 24 of the moving carriages 18 come into contact with each power supply rail 23 arranged along the moving path to supply power to the carriages 18. The length and position of each power supply rail 23 are set so that multiple carriages 18 do not pass through the same power supply rail 23.

With the above configuration, power is supplied to only one vehicle 18 per one power supply rail 23, so that excessive current does not flow through each power supply rail 23, and stable power can be supplied to the vehicle 18. Furthermore, with this configuration, even if a specific power supply rail 23 fails and is unable to supply power, power can be supplied to the vehicle 18 from other normal power supply rails 23. Furthermore, when a small amount of power supply to the vehicle 18 is sufficient, for example when an air conditioner or heater is not used, the power supply to a certain section of the power supply rail 23 can be stopped, thereby reducing the power used by the cableway equipment.

Next, near the gap between the power supply rails 23, a vehicle detector 27 is disposed, which detects the vehicle 18 and issues a signal when the vehicle 18 passes. FIG. 4 is a front view showing the positional relationship between the vehicle 18 gripping device 20 and the vehicle detector 27. The vehicle detector 27 is a non-contact detector, and is attached to a frame 28 fixed to the bus stops 11 and 12 via a bracket 29. When the gripping device 20 passes, it detects the gripping part 30 of the gripping device 20 and transmits this signal to the control device. When the vehicle detector 27 transmits a detection signal, the control device cuts off the power to both power supply rails 23 through which the vehicle 18 passes, and controls the supply of power so that the power is supplied to the power supply rail 23 when the gripping device 20 passes and the detection signal disappears. In this explanation, the vehicle detector 27 is described as a non-contact detector, but a contact detector such as a limit switch can also be used.

Figure 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the states in which the shackle machine 20 moves. In each of states A, B, and C, the shackle machine 20 moves in the direction of arrow X. First, in state A, electricity is flowing through both power supply rails 23a and 23b, which are arranged at a distance H from each other, and the current collector 24 provided on the shackle machine 20 contacts the power supply rail 23a to supply power to the carrier 18. When the gripper part 30 of the shackle machine 20 approaches the carrier detector 27, the carrier detector 27 detects this and transmits a detection signal to the control device. The control device receives the detection signal and cuts off the power to both power supply rails 23a and 23b.

Next, in state B, the gripper 20 advances and the current collector 24 is in a position where it is not in contact with either the power supply rail 23a or the power supply rail 23b. In this state, the carrier detector 27 detects the gripper 20, and electricity to both the power supply rail 23a and the power supply rail 23b is cut off. Next, in state C, the gripper 20 moves further and the current collector 24 is in contact with the power supply rail 23b. In this state, the gripper 20 moves away from the carrier detector 27, and this signal causes electricity to flow again to the power supply rail 23a and the power supply rail 23b.

In this way, no current flows through the power supply rails 23 (a, b) at the moment when the power supply rails 23 and the current collectors 24 come into contact with each other and at the moment when they separate, and current is passed and cut off when the power supply rails 23 (a, b) and the current collectors 24 are in contact with each other, so that even when a large current is passed through, such as during rapid charging, it is possible to prevent sparks from occurring between the power supply rails 23 (a, b) and the current collectors 24. In addition, since current is passed and cut off to the power supply rails 23 (a, b) based only on the detection signal from the gripper 20, no complex control equipment is required, and therefore current can be passed and cut off reliably to the power supply rails 23 (a, b).

10 Single-wire automatic circulating cableway 11 Station 12 Station 13 Driving pulley 14 Driven pulley 15 Cable 16 Traveling rail 17 Traveling rail 18 Carrier 19 Guide rail 20 Rope gripper 21 Traveling roller 22 End roller 23 Power supply rail 24 Current collector 25 Electric cable 26 Storage battery 27 Carrier detector 28 Frame 29 Bracket 30 Grip part H Distance X Arrow

Claims (2)

The present invention comprises: a plurality of power supply rails arranged at predetermined intervals along the moving path of a carriage within a cableway station, and energized with electricity of the same capacity; a current collector for the carriage and in contact with the power supply rail; and a plurality of carriage detectors provided between the plurality of power supply rails arranged at the predetermined intervals, and which, when detecting the carriage, energize and cut off the power supply rails provided before and after the intervals;
When the carriage detector detects the carriage, before the power supply rail and the current collector are separated, power supply rails provided before and after the carriage detector that detected the carriage are cut off,
A power supply device for a ropeway, characterized in that after the carriage detector has finished detecting the carriage and the power supply rail and the current collector have come into contact, power supply to the power supply rails installed in front of and behind the carriage detector that has finished detecting the carriage is resumed . The power supply device for a ropeway according to claim 1, characterized in that the power supply rails are arranged so as to supply power to only one of the carriages for one of the power supply rails.

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